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Waking up is hard to do, but it's easier with NPR's Morning Edition. Hosts Renée Montagne and Steve Inskeep present the day's stories and news to radio listeners on the go. While they are out traveling, David Greene can be heard as regular substitute host. Matt McCleskey and the WAMU news team bring the latest news from the Washington Metro area. Jerry Edwards keeps an eye on the daily commute. Morning Edition provides news in context, airs thoughtful ideas and commentary, and reviews important new music, books, and events in the arts. All with voices and sounds that invite listeners to experience the stories.

Since the assault weapons ban passed in the mid-1990s, Congress has had little appetite for gun control measures. "I think it was a very different time in 1994. I don't think there's very many lessons to learn from that," says Ted Kaufman, who was then-Sen. Joe Biden's chief of staff.

Jonathan Reichert, professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has donated a rare collection of Robert Frost's letters, photographs and audio files to the school. The materials chronicle the decades-long friendship between the poet and Reichert's father, rabbi and poet Victor Reichert.

Microbes can thrive in extreme environments, from inside fiery volcanoes to down on the bottom of the ocean. Now scientists have found a surprising number of them living in storm clouds tens of thousands of feet above the Earth. And those airborne microbes could play a role in global climate.

There are an estimated 20 million to 30 million surveillance cameras in China — or about one for every 43 people. Officials say the cameras help fight crime and maintain "social stability." But critics say the government uses them to monitor and intimidate dissidents.

As the nation ponders how to stop the next mass shooting, the gun rights movement offers one controversial answer: armed civilians. In 2005, one such private citizen tried to stop a mass shooting at a mall in Washington state — and paid a heavy price.

Critics call the country's Salafis a threat to the ideals of economic prosperity, civil liberties and gender equality. The Salafis insist that only their rigid interpretation of Islamic law can govern Muslims. Their stand puts Tunisia's moderate Islamist leaders in a difficult position.

When all Boeing 787 Dreamliners were grounded for electrical issues, it sent the stock of the company that makes the plane's batteries into a tailspin. Now that company, GS Yuasa, is seeing its stock bounce back. The Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau cleared the company of all responsibility for Boeing's electrical issues.

The nickel — with Lady Liberty on the front and the Roman numeral V on the reverse — shows the date 1913. The problem is the liberty head was replaced by the buffalo head in 1912. Making this nickel a bootleg — one of five allegedly cast at the Philadelphia Mint by a crooked employee. One nickel is expected to sell for more than $2 million at an auction this spring.

British troops will be supporting the French mission in Mali to drive rebels and Islamist militants out of the West African country. British Foreign Secretary William Hague says it is important to support an ally. He tells Renee Montagne the prime way of dealing with the crisis in Mali is through African governments and forces.

The Americans is a new series on FX about two Soviet spies living in the U.S. as a married couple. TV critic Eric Deggans says it's amazing to see Soviet spies as the heroes of a show because they were screen villains for so long.

In the West African nation of Mali, residents of Timbuktu were cheering in the streets Monday, after the city was liberated by French and Malian forces after months under the harsh rule of Islamist fighters. In a final act of cultural warfare before fleeing Timbuktu, the rebels are reported to have set fire to libraries housing priceless manuscripts.

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